Quiet Keystrokes and Midnight Ramblings

I find myself re-canalizing (again) just what it is that I want from the world of writing.  It seems like every time I turn around I have discovered that such-and-such venture is not as personally rewarding as I thought it would be, or that I've begun pigeonholing myself in projects that are making it difficult for me to move towards my dreams as a whole.  My desires to write are like a river - except instead of finding the smoothest path towards the ocean and letting gravity do the rest I seem to continue finding myself trying to flow uphill and over mountain ranges. I'm stubborn that way. My current thought on the subject of writing can be summed up by answering a couple of questions that have been floating around my brain the last few days: 1)What do you want to BE when you "grow up" as a writer? Just a year ago, I thought being published by a well-known company like Yahoo! would be enough to call myself a writer.  And in some sense, it has.  I can ho...

I haven't been able to blog much these days, although I have still been plodding along and making progress on the writing front one step at a time.  Unfortunately, the blogs I manage have all been taking a backseat to some other big projects and even though it only takes me 15 or 20 minutes to post something it seems like these days I can't seem to find that many minutes to rub together. These days it's all about priorities and time management, two of the most difficult things for me to keep up with.  Although having a deadline can generally spur me on to be incredibly productive, it can also lead to me being even more easily distracted by shiny objects, side projects and lots of time just standing around with my hands shoved into my pockets staring at the piles around me. And so the day begins... I'm off to drink a can of soda, and help those folks over at Gearheadz Paintball to keep marching forward towards their big spring event. Currently Reading:

I've been quite distracted this last week, missing one deadline and teetering ever so closely to the next one.  Life, as it always seems to do, has gotten in the way of me making it to my next set of writing goals.  It is interesting how it all seems to fall apart at once, but doesn't seem to go together quite as easily.   We are marching towards the light though.  As I type, my wonderful husband is on his hands and knees, getting my stove and oven ready for removal (and replacement!).  My computer is residing in pieces on the dining room table mid-way through an overhaul, and I have suddenly snapped-to and realized that it's about time I get back to my work schedule. So here I am, blogging away on a Wednesday as scheduled.  It feels good to get back on track :)

There comes a time in our lives, and for me that time is now, when it is apparent that the world wants us to move on to new endeavors.  I received word from the Yahoo Contributor Network that they are discontinuing the featured writer's program that I have been blessed to be a part of and are replacing it with a "new and improved" program with stricter guidelines.  Reading between the lines I got the feeling that they realized how much money they were paying out to writers of all levels and decided to cull the herd a bit in response to Google b*tch slapping their internet ratings. While it is disappointing to be let go from the program only a few months after being accepted into it, it has given me time to reflect.  What I want to be as a writer is not a "jill of all trades", but rather someone who is known for writing a specific subject and known as a writer of books.  Truth be told I have spent so much time writing about luggage , dry feet and small bu...

This past weekend our family headed out to Spirit Mountain Casino  to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday.  It was a great time both in the casino and hanging out in the restaurants and up in the rooms (Mr. Kawaii and I rented a suite for the night so there would be room for our entire gang to hang out in), and although the excitement of the weekend left us all exhausted it was certainly a perfectly timed break from working and writing. Time and time again, Mr. Kawaii reminds me of the importance of scheduling time away from work; and time and time again he is proved right.  It is very easy as a stay-at-home worker bee to work constantly, and even easier to get burnt out when projects pile up and we get overwhelmed.  Taking a step back and living life a little helps to keep things in perspective. To all of you - keep up the good work on your own projects, and celebrate your success by taking a day or two off!

I am a "doer".  It has been demonstrated time and time again that it is very difficult for me to stop working on projects, even when I know I need to take a break.  This blessing/curse has become exponentially more apparent now that I work from the comfort and confines of my own home, and Mr. Kawaii and I are constantly trying to find little ways to help me switch off at the end of the day. Constantly being surrounded by work in my personal space makes it so easy to do "one more thing", remind me of a project that I wanted to get done today or give me ideas for new projects that I hadn't even thought of during my working hours.  Bits and pieces of our home business can be found in our home-office, our dining room, can be seen from the dining room and kitchen... all of the rooms that are most frequently used during the day for work and for rest.  It's as easy to get distracted by work when I'm checking my personal e-mail as it is to be distracted by it ...

Possibly the single most difficult part of being a writer is trying to come up with fresh ideas.  This is particularly difficult for me sometimes when writing for the internet because I'm essentially battling with billions of other bloggers, freelance writers and technical writers for creative space.  For me, inspiration comes in waves and I've learned that I need to capture ideas as they come in order to keep up a pace that continues to build momentum on all that I've already done. About once every few weeks as I am sitting on my bum cruising the internets, or sitting in the DMV waiting area listening to the workers drone on as I wait my turn, or picking up groceries at the store, I have a sudden burst of great ideas for things to write about.  The lightning bolt of inspiration comes at random and it's very easy to miss it if I'm not paying attention or don't have a piece of paper and pen handy.  But when the stars align and I realize what is happening in thi...